Author's note: I really hate leaving you all hanging for so long, so this is going to be the last unbeta'd chapter of Blood in the Sand going up.
Things are about to seriously heat up, Could be for the better, could be for the worse.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sheldon Jeffrey Sands, or anyone else from Once Upon A Time In Mexico. I just let him come and play, often. ;)
I also DO NOT own, Eric Cameron, from Sands Through The Hourglass. He's on special loan from Scarlett Burns, my lovely Partner in Crime.
Sarah flopped down on Cerise and Sands bed as she waited for Cerise to get out of the shower.
"This all got fucked up." Sarah said, as she heard Cerise at the bathroom door.
"What do you mean?" Cerise called from the other side the door as she got dressed.
"It wasn't supposed to end up like this. It really wasn't. If I'd known...If Mac had known...if Sammy had..." Sarah muttered, staring out the window. Cerise stopped as she pulled her t-shirt on.
Slowly she opened the door and looked at Sarah. "Sarah, what are you talking about?" She asked slowly. Sarah sighed and stood, turning to face Cerise. She was holding Cerise's desert eagle. Cerise stood very still, she glanced once from the gun to Sarah's face. Her features were grim.
"The plan was never supposed to work like this." Sarah said simply. "The idea..." She gestured. "It doesn't matter if I tell you now or not."
Cerise stepped out of the bathroom door, taking a slow step into the room. "Tell me what, Sarah? You can't leave me hanging like this." Sarah frowned, seeming to contemplate on what she was trying to say.
She gestured with the gun. "It was all planned out so smooth. Sands would have his wishes fulfilled." "You've lost me, Sarah." Cerise said gently, as much as her aggravation and confusion was rising, she kept it in check. "I know, I know. Look, WE knew, all right, WE KNEW what he was doing."
Cerise shook her head. "Sarah, who is WE and who is HE?" She asked, a little more desperately. She took another step towards Sarah, but Sarah raised the gun, with an unwavering aim.
"We, Me, Matinieze, Doddson." Cerise blinked at the name of one of the chief director of operations. "We knew what Sands was doing with the Barillo Cartel."
"And what was he doing?" Cerise asked, fighting down a dose of rage.
"You're not privy to THAT much information." Sarah replied, a grin creeping into her lips. "You were NEVER supposed to recover any contact with him. The plan was to station you in Europe, and provide for Lily. We, Matinieze and I were to deal with Sands when the time was right."
"Deal with him HOW!" Cerise snapped.
Sarah gestured obscurely with the gun again, but didn't answer.
Now Cerise couldn't keep her anger down. "All right, let's try another approach, WHY did Rick kill Matinieze!" Cerise was moving slowly towards Sands' bag, but Sarah caught this, and the bullet lodged in the floor near Cerise's right foot.
"Don't, don't push me to do this, Cerise. I don't want to have to, but now...with Sammy...I've got no other plan!" Sarah growled dangerously. Cerise could only stare at her. Meek little Sarah was no more.
"Sarah, PLEASE tell me what this is all about!" Cerise cried.
"Make some coffee." Sarah ordered.
"What?"
"I said make some coffee!" Sarah screamed. Cerise followed the orders, moving towards the coffee pot, but her eye was still trained on Sarah and the gun.
"You know what a bang and burn is." Sarah said, watching Cerise. Cerise stopped herself from retorting. "I was supposed to be your baby sitter. I was to keep you away from Sands, because if you got close to him again, we knew trouble would follow."
"You're STILL not making any bloody sense, Sarah!"
"I'm getting there!" Sarah snapped. "Bang and burn, pure and simple, Sands was the mole. He never knew it. It was that simple. We KNEW someone in the Company was a double, but we didn't know who."
"Maxell, was the fucking double and you know it!" Cerise screamed.
"Maxell is still ALIVE!" Sarah replied.
Cerise sank into the chair, staring at Sarah. "The woman responsible for almost killing me, for almost killing my daughter, for driving Sheldon insane, is still ALIVE!"
Sarah sighed and nodded. "What Maxell did was chicken feed compared to what we knew as going on. We suspected, for years, that it had something to do with Sands, but we...we never knew how far nor WHO. We were using him as a ferret to get to the traitor. No, it wasn't supposed to work the way it did, Sands was never supposed to..."
"Loose his eyes!" Cerise finished for Sarah. "What about all of Sheldon's training!" Cerise demanded.
"No doubt about it, he's still a very valuable agent to the Company. The best damn assassin since Carmichael. We weren't going to let him loose just like he wanted. Which brings me back to my original point. Sands was wanting out. He'd been wanting out for a least a year or so. He didn't know we knew, but we did."
"So what? What did this have to do with Barillo or Dupre!" Cerise asked shaking her head.
"Sands got wind of the money Barillo was going to pay for the president's assassination. Now he did his job. He put a man inside who could counter the attack, he played controller, but he had another motive. He was going to take the money and run. Disappear." Sarah sit down across from Cerise, but she didn't lower the gun.
"We WERE at first prepared to let him, considering the personal turmoil he'd been through, then we realized if he did...to much that we'd been working for through the last ten years would be lost. Don't you see Cerise? It's a fucking war right there in the middle of the Company and the white hats still need their best player!"
Cerise stared at her. "This has been going on for ten years?" She asked.
"Much longer then that. Since at least the middle of the cold war, but it escalated ten years ago. Why do you think Sands rose in ranks so fast? Why do you think he was let in on all kinds of intelligence! Because when all was said and done, we knew EXACTLY where his loyalties lay. We knew what he'd risk for the Company."
"Back up, just a second. WHAT happened on the Day of the Dead?" Cerise demanded.
Sarah sighed. "Someone...someone let Adjerez's bona fides slip by as real. Past my approval. I knew, I THOUGHT Sands knew. Some one, it could have ONLY been Rick, kept this vital detail from Sands."
"Are you sure Rick is in this alone!"
"No, we know he's not. We just...we don't know who else is with Rick. That's why we wanted Sands to stay put. Rick was going to try and take Sands out, we were aware of this. It was just a question of when and how. You see Rick as ALWAYS seen Sands a threat. To what, we're...not sure. But we're working on that." Sarah nodded as if satisfied by her own answer.
Cerise shook her head. "What am I, to the Company?" She questioned.
Sarah grinned slightly. "You were made Sands' partner for a reason. No, we never contemplated the two of you...falling in love. But we knew, we knew deep down the two of you would be a deadly combination. You're as vital to the Agency as Sands is."
Cerise just stared at her. "What are you?"
"Me," Sarah grinned. "I was to be Sands' replacement, if in fact, he was ever killed. I'll never be as good an assassin as Sheldon Jeffrey Sands, but my loyalties lie with the good side. The white hats."
"Sarah, WHY...what..."Cerise couldn't even start to form her words.
"Hush, Cerise." Sarah put the gun on the table infront of Cerise. "This is where you make your choice." Cerise looked from the gun to Sarah again, then back. "It's either or. No in between." Sarah said softly, resting her arms ontop of the table top, her gaze steady.
"Now, don't make the mistake of thinking I can let you walk out of here with this knowledge if you chose or." Cerise started to open her mouth, but Sarah held up a hand. "I don't like the idea, but I can make Sands a widower again and walk away with a semi clear conscience." Cerise narrowed her eyes, then snatched up the gun with lighten quick reflexes. She stood, the barrel of the gun between Sarah's eyes.
"After everything you tell me, you expect me to bloody well trust you!" Cerise hissed. Sarah sat there calmly, which only pissed Cerise off more. The Sarah she'd known the night before would have been under the table hiding.
"You're going to have to, Cerise. We're still on the same side. You know I love Sands like a brother." Cerise cocked the gun. "Don't react foolishly, Cerise, you pull that trigger, you'll never make it out of Mexico alive."
"If you love Sands like a brother, why all the fucking secrecy!"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Despite the hold we have on him, he's still a bloody wild card. And we had to PROTECT him from the details." Cerise took a step back, and closed her eyes, one hand on her temple.
"Cerise. Please, we need you, we need Sands, because if we loose the two of you, we've lost the game. Can you dig it?" Sarah asked, borrowing Sands' line. Cerise opened her eyes and glared at Sarah. "I can dig it."
"So make the choice." Sarah said, gesturing with open palms.
The minutes ticked by, the information churned in Cerise's mind. This had all been for his protection, for her protection for Lily's protection. Sarah was so much more then the friend she'd thought she'd known. And if she made the wrong choice, it cost her everything dear to her. What did that leave her with.
Finally Cerise lowered the gun, she laid it on the table. "You have me." She muttered.
Sarah stood up, "Cerise, can you forgive me for the deception?"
Cerise shook her head. "I can, but I wont forget!"
"Fair enough." Sarah said softly. She held out her hand. Cerise took it finally.
"Please, don't share this with Sands until...let me tell him."
"He'll shoot you." Sarah nodded grimly.
"Probably, but this is...I feel this is my doing." Sarah said softly, looking through the window. "It was my fault Sammy..."
"It wasn't!" Cerise hissed strongly. "And when Sheldon and I get our hands on Rick...he'll pay. Unless the Company wants him..." Cerise eyed Sarah.
Sarah shook her head. "He's to be terminated. And who better to make the executive action, then Sands." Cerise nodded and heard the footsteps in the hallway. "They're back." Sarah said, glancing at the door. "Remember, not a word."
Cerise nodded. "I know, I know!"
"Mornin' Sarah." Sands said as they entered the room.
"Sands." Sarah replied meekly and Cerise rubbed her temple. This act was all to much.
"What happened to Jeff?" Sands mocked.
"You pissed me off before you left D.C., remember?" Sarah muttered, pouring a cup of coffee.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that." Sands shrugged.
"Where did you go, Sheldon?" Cerise asked, watching him as he dropped the bag under the table again and flopped down on the bed, hands behind his head. "To meet with Dupre." Sarah's head snapped up and she shot Cerise a look. Cerise sighed irritatedly, "Hence WHY I didn't tell you where I was going..." Sands replied in a sing song voice to her sigh. Cerise glared at him. Sands pouted in reply.
El slipped into a chair. Sarah moved over to him. "El, thank you... For last night. I probably would have..."
"Drunk yerself silly?" Sands offered from the bed. Sarah shot him a dark look.
El smiled grimly, but kept his attentions on Sarah. "It was nothing." He said softly.
Sands sit up on the bed, paying perfect attention to the two.
"That's not true." Sarah muttered. "I probably would have got myself killed. Not used to Mexico..."
Sands suddenly bound off the bed and grabbed Cerise's arm, dragging her towards the door. Sarah ignored them, El glanced their way, but looked back at Sarah. She was very pretty.
"What has gotten into you!" Cerise hissed as they left the room.
"In case you haven't noticed, Sarah's transfering her affections to El." Sands replied, leading her towards the elevator.
"You can't be serious!"
"Oh, but I am." Sands frowned. "I'm not keen on the idea, but if it keeps her from killing herself right now, all the better, cause I need the little hacker alive."
"Sheldon!" Cerise hit him in the shoulder. "She's more important then that!"
"Yes, I know...but she has to patch things between us, I ain't sayin' a word." They got in the elevator.
"So tell me what happened." Cerise said.
Sands leaned against the back wall, lighting a cigarette. "What's to tell. He wanted to mock me. Did a fucking good job of it." He growled, stashing his lighter in his pocket.
Cerise moved over to him, taking the cigarette from his fingers and drawing a drag from it before giving it back. "He'll get his. We know this. Besides, he's ALWAYS mocked you... In way or the other."
"Hockey game." Sands muttered. Cerise laughed and leaned on him, Sands wraped his arm around her waist.
It was one of those nights at the 'office'. Everyone was bored out their mind, having the night shift. The parkinglot was mostly empty, and Sands had sought everyone for this especially. The whole team gathered in the blistering cold, with a few other 'players'. Sands, Sammy and Cameron had dug out some brooms, hockey sticks and other things from all the closets in the building.
"Okay, nine on each team." Sands said.
""Who's team captains?" Missy asked.
"Sands has the red team and Rick has the blue team." Sammy said.
"Right. Line up." Sands ordered.
"I feel like I'm in middle school again." Mac muttered as they all got into a line.
Sands and Rick were standing side by side. "Cerise." Sands called. Cerise shook her head and went to the red side.
"Mac." Rick called. Mac went to the Blue side.
"Sammy." Sammy went to the red side.
"Sarah." Rick gave Sands a look. Sarah pouted but went to the blue side.
"Missy." She went to the red team.
"De." She ran over to the blue side.
"Jack," Jack ran to the red side.
They dwindled the list down, until two people stood on the side lines, Cameron and Carmichael.
Cerise broke from the red team and jogged over to Sands. "Pick Eric, damn it." She hissed in his ear.
Sands gave her a look. "I don't WANT Cam on our side."
"We don't want Tom either, he's already siding with Rick..." She told him, glancing back at Carmichael.
Poor Cameron looked lost. "Pick Eric!" Cerise hissed again.
Sands glared at her but gave in. "Cam, get over there." Cerise broke from Sands side and walked over to the red team with Cameron.
"He'll probably bench me..." Cameron muttered to her.
Cerise patted Cameron on the shoulder. "No worries Eric. I'll keep him in line."
"Didn't think you wanted to play anyway." Sammy joined them.
"Do you see anything ELSE to do?" Cameron asked.
"Exactly. And we're not breaking any rules, so just have fun."
When the teams were formed, they walked down to the parking garage and took their respected sides. The blue team was already taunting the red team as they gathered.
"Sammy, Cerise, Jack, Missy and...Cam... We'll go out first." Sands said, pulling on a pair of black leather gloves. Cerise winked at Cameron and passed him a broom.
"Do we even have a puck!" Rick called from the red team. Sands held up a street hockey puck. "I just so happened to have it in my car!"
"You mean that piece of shit you drive?" Rick called back. Sands glared, his 33 ford was one of his car pride and joys. Sammy grimaced. Even Cerise and Cameron knew to stay away from the subject of Sands' classic cars.
"Fuck off Dupre."
"You're right, let's just play the game."
They'd been playing for at least two hours, equal scorse on both sides. Cerise and Cameron were sitting on a wall of the garage, side by side, both tired and sore. They were about to play the final round after a break. Sands walked towards Cerise, she could see he was aggravated and annoyed at Rick. She held out her bottle of water and he took, sitting his hockey stick next to her.
"He's not playing fair..." Carmeron muttered.
"Ya think, Cam!" Sands snapped at him.
"So twist your own rules." Cerise muttered.
Sands looked at her as he took a drink.
"Four times, Sands, we've seen him employ physical contact. GET HIM BACK!" Cameron snapped back.
Sands sat the water bottle on the wall next to Cerise and pulled off his t-shirt. His sweat shirt was already on the ground next to her. Now he was bare chested. She could seen the thin sheen of sweat over his torso and back, his muscles tense. He grabbed his hockey stick and motioned for those going out with him.
They were face to face. The final face off. Cameron ran out with Cerise, he dropped the hockey puck between Sands' and Rick's sticks. Cerise held on to the silver whistle, she glanced at Cameron. Rick and Sands' gazes were locked. Sands let his lips curl back in a sickening sweet sneer. Rick glared back.
"One." Cerise counted. The sticks slapped together.
"Two." Again.
"Three." The sticks connected a third time. Cerise blew the whistle and she and Cameron threw themselves off the court. Rick threw his shoulder into Sands, knocking the puck away from his stick. Sands retaliated and pulled Rick's knee out of the way with his stick, hitting the puck towards Sammy. Sammy drove it towards the goal. But no one cared, because their eyes were on Sands and Rick. It was personal now. Mac knocked the puck back to Rick, who was driving it towards the Red side's goal.
Sands was fed up, he came up on Rick's right side and drove him into the wall, turning to face him. The sticks fought over the puck. Rick took an illegal approach, he drove his stick into Sands' side, knock the air out of him. Sands hit the wall and threw his stick to the ground. The game was over, this was a personal fight as far as he was concerned and Rick was willing to indulge him. He too threw his stick to the ground and pulled off his shirt. As it came off, Sands hit him in the jaw, sending Rick staggering back. Sands pulled his gloves off and threw them with his stick, before lunging.
The two rolled into a snow drift near the entrance. Coming to a stop, Sands was ontop and all at once, he snapped. He began hitting Rick in the face non-stop. "Stop them!" Mac screamed at Sammy. Sammy pushed his way through some of the ones gathered around. But Rick flipped Sands off him and rolled to his feet. He wipped the blood off his lip and sneered at Sands. Sands stayed in a fighter's crouch.
"That's it, Sands!" Rick growled, before lunging. He threw Sands into the stone wall, hitting over and over again. Sands grabbed the closet thing to him and swung, the hockey stick striking Rick in the face. Rick was distracted, so when Sands threw his punch, he didn't have a chance to block it. There was sickening sweet crunch as Rick's nose broke from the blow.
He was about to lounge when Carmichael grabbed his arms and pulled him back. "Lay off Rick, Jeff'll kill you!" He hissed in the other man's ear. Cameron and Sammy had grabbed Sands' arms and were pulling him back. Cerise was in front of Sands, a hand on his chest. She could feel his breath heaving under her hand and saw the fire in his eyes. He was going to kill Rick and Rick should have known it.
Rick shrugged off Carmichael's arms, seeming to calm all at once. "It's just a game, ain't that right, Jeff?" Sands glared. Rick began walking away. Cameron and Sammy figured it was all right now and let go of Sands. But that was wait Rick was waiting as he picked up his hockey stick. He spun and shoved past Cerise, knocking her into a stone pillar. Cerise's head hit the pillar and her world spun.
Sands turned in time to see Rick shove her to get to him and caught the stick as Rick swung it. Now he was really pissed. He swung the stick and drove it into the back of Rick's legs, knocking the man down on his knees. Throwing the stick away, he grabbed Rick's head by the hair and drove his face into the asphalt, as hard as he could.
"If you ever do that again..." Sands hissed in a dangerous voice. There was a metallic click in the silence of the garage as Sands opened a switch blade. He shoved it against Rick's neck, enough to bring a prick of blood. "One of these days," Sands hissed in Rick's ear, only loud enough for Rick to hear. "I'll kill you." Shoving away from Rick, Sands stood, pocketing the knife. He went over to the concert pillar where Cerise was sitting, holding a cold bottle of water to her head, that Sarah had handed her and knelt beside her.
"Alright?"
"Do you have any idea how much fucking trouble you're going to be in, if this gets back to the supers?" Cerise growled looking up at him.
Sands gestured it off. "Wont be the first time. I've 'endangered the lives of co-works' before." He said, qouting his last suspension. "I asked if you were alright."
"Besides the spliting headache? Fine." She muttered. "You've got blood on your chin."
Sands ran the back of his hand over his chin, wipping the blood that came from his split lip away.
"Yeah, well, Rick now has a broken nose and is missing three teeth." Cameron said, coming over from talking to Carmichael. "Tom's going to make sure what happened stayed here." Cameron muttered, staring at his feet.
Sands turned his head and glanced at Carmichael.
Tom Carmichael was nearly impossible to figure out. The eldest of the group, Sands had trained with him at the farm and Tom had ran Sands' first assassination assignment. No one could figure out where his loyalties lay in the Company. One minute, he was on your side, the next he was on your rival's. One thing Sands was sure of, was Carmichael enjoyed playing those around him to his own convenience.
Carmichael simply nodded. Sands nodded once and turned back to Cerise. He stood, holding out his hand. Cerise took it and he pulled her to her feet.
Sarah handed Sands his gloves and shirts. "I think that's enough hockey for tonight." She muttered.
"Let's go do something else." Sammy suggested. "Like... Making copies of our asses."
Cameron choked on his water. "Let's go get something to eat." Sands said simply. "I'll pay."
"Oh, oh before I forget." Sammy bounced over. "Jeff, buddy, bestest friend..."
"No." Sands answered, before Sammy had finished.
"You don't even know what I'm asking."
"Don't know, don't care. No."
"Jeff! I just wanna barrow the Ghost, just for TWO hours."
"Ain't no fucking way, she doesn't leave the garage, EXCEPT for very important events." Sands replied.
"But this IS a very important event... I'm taking this girl out..."
"Sammy, I'll let you borrow the mustang, you can take the Porsche out. But the silver ghost stays where she's at!" Sands said, with a tone that made it finally.
"Silver Ghost?" Cameron questioned.
"Yeah..." Cerise muttered. "Sands has a 1925 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost." She told him.
Cameron blinked and stared at her. "And he has a mustang?"
'65 Shelby," Cerise added.
"And a Porsche..." She nodded.
Cameron let out a low whistle.
"Just like his 33 Ford, Eric." Sarah muttered. "Which I wanna ride in!" She began running towards the outside parking lot as they all walked.
"Who else plays hockey like that?" Cerise muttered as they got out of the elevator.
"Ah, but it was fun." Sands said, grinning at her.
"Yeah, until you went off and tried to kill Rick..." Cerise replied. "You're lucky Carmichael kept him from going to your superiors." Sands sighed. Tom Carmichael had died two years after that night, an assignment he and both Sands were on. Sands was the only agent to walk away alive. That was a year before Sands and Cerise had been split up.
"Tom was a good man in the end." Sands muttered.
"He trained his replacement well." Cerise whispered.
Sands shook his head. "Tom always knew I was better then him. That's why he..." Sands trailed off.
"Why he what?" Cerise asked as they walked towards the bar in the hotel.
"Nothing." Sands shook his head. "I don't want to think about that right now." He answered.
Cerise sighed. "All right, Sheldon."